2019 GOLF

02-15-19: www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/kuchar-apologizes-pledges-dollar50000-to-mayakoba-caddie/ar-BBTEDGD?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=U147DHP
LOS ANGELES — Matt Kuchar apologized Friday for what he said were insensitive comments about the caddie he used at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico last fall and said he would pay the $50,000 the caddie requested.
 
He also said he would make a donation to the tournament to be distributed to charities in the Cancun area.

"Golf is a game where we call penalties on ourselves," Kuchar said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. "I should have done that long ago and not let this situation escalate."

Kuchar's regular caddie couldn't make the trip to Mexico in November, so he used David Ortiz from El Camaleon Golf Club. Kuchar won for the first time in more than four years and earned $1,296,000.

Ortiz received $5,000.

Kuchar defended the payment — regular PGA Tour caddies typically get 10 percent from the winner — by saying they had an agreement at the start of the week. In an interview with golf.com, Kuchar said he did not understand why there was such a big buzz on social media.

"For a guy who makes $200 a day, a $5,000 week is a really good week," Kuchar said.

Ortiz had told the website he didn't expect the full 10 percent as a fulltime caddie, but that he thought it was worth $50,000. He said he sent three emails to Kuchar's agent, Mark Steinberg at Excel Sports Management, and was offered an additional $15,000, which he turned down because he found it unacceptable.

Now he's getting his money after Kuchar spent the last two days defending the arrangement.

"This week, I made comments that were out of touch and insensitive, making a bad situation worse," Kuchar said. "They made it seem like I was marginalizing David Ortiz and his financial situation, which was not my intention. I read them again and cringed. That is not who I am and now what I want to represent."

Kuchar, who opened with a 68 on Friday at the Genesis Open, said he would call Ortiz after play Friday, which he said was overdue.

"I have made sure he has received the full total that he has requested," Kuchar said.

The situation first came to light when PGA Tour Champions player Tom Gillis tweeted in January — as Kuchar was on his way to another victory in the Sony Open — that he paid a local caddie at the Mayakoba Classic only $3,000. Asked about it in Honolulu, Kuchar said it wasn't $3,000 and it wasn't 10 percent, a variance of about $125,000.

In the golf.com interview, Kuchar suggest that someone persuaded Ortiz to ask for more.

"I was very clear and very upfront. And he said, 'OK.' He had the ability, with bonuses, to make up to $4,000," Kuchar told the website.

He said the deal was $1,000 if he missed the cut, $2,000 if he made the cut, $3,000 if he finished in the top 20 and $4,000 if he was in the top 10. Kuchar said the extra $1,000 was a token of gratitude for a great week.

"He was in agreement with those terms," Kuchar said. "That's where I struggle. I don't know what happened. Someone must have said, 'You need much more.'"

The apology and payment is a big step toward ending a saga that Kuchar said had played out mostly on social media. Even so, it was getting more attention from players on the range than Sergio Garcia damaging five greens and getting disqualified in Saudi Arabia.

"I never wanted to bring any negativity to the Mayakoba Golf Classic," Kuchar said. He did not mention the size of the donation he was making or what philanthropic causes it would support in Playa del Carmen and Cancun.

I AGREE!!!

edition.cnn.com/2019/02/20/golf/steve-stricker-usa-ryder-cup-captain-spt-intl/index.html Hope he does better than the last Captain...

Mich, you get to play some terrific and very challenging venues. Do you post a handicap? What’s your best round, favorite course and so on?... I was definitely never past the duffer stage. I think the lowest handicap I ever posted was 14. It would definitely be 36 if I tried today...

Jeez Joe, sounds like you are methodically running down the Golf Digest list of Top 100 public courses.  Pinehurst, Whistling Straits, Scottsdale -- I am guessing the Ocean Course in Kiawah -- did you check out Harbour Town in Hilton Head while you were there?  A good friend of mine is set to play there in a few weeks.

Was Hawaii either Kapalua or the Prince Course?  And is Shadow Creek on your agenda for when you get to Vegas?  I am guessing yes.

Since you are apparently in New Jersey, seems like Bethpage Black in NY is a natural for you.

My nephew belongs to Oak Hill near Rochester and has invited me to play, but at this point in life I am trying to limit the opportunities to embarrass myself.  I did go to the PGA Championship there a few years ago.  And I am never the guy yelling "get in the hole."

BTW, I meant earlier to note on here the passing of one of golf's greats, Gene Littler, a few days ago. Inger at least is old enough to remember him. A golfer's golfer with what Gene Sarazen called "the perfect swing," thus his nickname "Gene the Machine." One of several top-tier golfers from San Diego, along with his boyhood pal Billy Casper -- maybe the most under-rated top-tier golfer of all time -- and of course Phil Mickelson and LPGA legend Mickey Wright.

I recall the name, but had no interest in golf at that time...But the name was one that was often on the sports pages in the newspaper and the sports broadcasts on TV at night...So proof enough that he had some star power and was near the top of leader boards frequently...

You know who I regret never having gotten to see play? Moe Norman. That had to be a trip. Weird set up and swing, odd personality quirks, a self taught golfer who is the still the post-humous sen-sei of Natural Golf, which is still sold to beginners.

I understand he was incredibly shy and felt bullied on the PGA tour, so played primarily in Canada. Two neat stories...Once a caddy told him that he could reach the hole with a driver and nine iron, so he hit his nine iron off the tee and then hit his driver onto the the green for his second shot. One another occasion, instead of hitting short of a water hazard he couldn't carry, he bounced his shot off a bridge to carry the hazard...